


I Don't Need You ( But you should probably hold my hand just in case)

by MadameStylinsonoftheNoueh



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, I should stop, M/M, Please Don't Kill Me, criminals, inspired by a book i read once, is that spelled right?, lol, loooovvvvvveeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, new tags will show up, probs - Freeform, sexy time?, still planning, trying so hard not to plagiarize, um...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-05-12
Packaged: 2018-01-24 10:41:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1601975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameStylinsonoftheNoueh/pseuds/MadameStylinsonoftheNoueh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A handful of times over the year that Harry had been gone from home he had acknowledged that running away may not have been the best idea ever. But he had never felt that way as strongly as he felt it right then, as he sat in a jail cell, awaiting a sentence that could possibly mean the gallows.</p>
<p>or, the one where harry is a runaway, louis is the hero that keeps to himself except for his aunt, Lou, who just can't shut up. Oh, and did i mention it's a western?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. introduction

**Author's Note:**

> this is what's become of me... sometimes i am so ashamed.

A handful of times over the year that Harry had been gone from home he had acknowledged that running away may not have been the best idea ever. But he had never felt that way as strongly as he felt it right then, as he sat in a jail cell awaiting a sentence that could possible mean the gallows.

How did Harry end up there? He had asked himself that question a million times over the two days he had sat in that cell. 

And well, there's no better place to start a story than from the beginning, is there?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what led harry to where he is now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, so i actually did manage to get a chapter done. sorry it's not a thousand words, but its everything that happened before harry got put into jail

When Harry left home, he had five things with him: a change of clothes, his sister’s locket, the last letter he had received from his father, half a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese wrapped in a handkerchief, and the fifty dollars he had been saving up for the past year from all his work on the Owens’ ranch. It wasn’t much, but it was all the eighteen-year-old had, so it was enough.

His journey out of his hometown of Valencia was fast and stealthy. If anyone from town caught him, he would never get another chance to escape. Harry just couldn’t stay here any longer.

Valencia was his home, had been all his life, but now all he could feel was hate towards the small town. His father had abandoned them there. Sure, he sent letters from all the places he had visited in his travels, and all of them ended with a promise to return soon. But that was the thing, he had been promising to return to them for the past five years. It just wasn’t good enough.

So Harry was angry; angry at his father for leaving them for better things, angry at the town for not piquing his father’s interest, angry at his mother for not managing to keep her husband around. Angry at himself for not being good enough.

The thing Harry didn’t consider as he left was the fact that he was following in the very footsteps of the man his anger burned against.

As weeks, and eventually months, passed, Harry traveled further away from his home. When his money ran out, he stopped in the nearest town and worked odd jobs, earning enough to eat and keep a room until he gained enough money to move on again. This cycle continued until he hit San Francisco, the biggest city within miles of home.

Harry’s hope had been to find a job when he reached San Francisco, but it had been harder than he initially thought. For months he searched, but odd jobs were few and far between, leaving him with little money and nowhere to sleep in the night. One night of sleep outside a bar and a broken up brawl later, Harry found himself with a new job as a bodyguard for the bar.

His nineteenth birthday quickly approached, and with it Harry slowly changed. He grew taller and filled out more, making his job easier since the troublemakers were a little more wary to mess with him. Unfortunately, it didn’t manage to keep him the job for much longer. Apparently, hitting the sheriff’s second cousin’s brother-in-law was some sort of offense, no matter who punched first (the man had terrible aim), and Harry found himself high-tailing it out of the city by cover of night.

The real trouble began when a man by the name of Bently approached him on the street of a town outside of San Francisco. Harry knew just from looking at the man that something was up. No one around here could afford a suit and coat that nice, and most definitely not that pocket watch. An Easterner for sure, and they could never be trusted, at least that’s what he’d heard. Unfortunately, Harry found himself listening to the man anyway.

“Say, young man, are you lookin’ for a job?”

“Yeah, why?”

And that’s how Harry became a bodyguard and lookout for a band of thieves.

For a while, there wasn’t any stealing involved, and they mostly lived the high life. Harry often found himself having to take care of a drunk Bently and whoever his conquest had been for the night, but he didn’t mind too much because his pay was good and he got nice things. Luxury comes with a price, however, and the money soon ran out. So they had to get more.

On the night of his first robbery, Harry was caught in the act as the rest of the crew made their escape from the bank. The body found on the floor didn’t help him at all as one of the men in pursuit cuffed him.

The man’s words as he escorted him out rang through his ears even still.

_“You better pray he’s not dead, you bastard, or you’ll hang.”_

**Author's Note:**

> i swear to god, i am working on this but it will be a while before a whole chapter is up.


End file.
